Bio

Christian-Frédéric Bloquert is a French composer & conductor.

A prolific composer, Mr Bloquert has received many accolades for his work. In 2016, as a first year student at Berklee College of Music, he won the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition. In both 2018 and 2019, he received the John Bavicchi Memorial Prize for Outstanding Composition Achievement, the top composition prize at Berklee College of Music. In 2020, Mr. Bloquert won the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award for his piece Fantastique Voyage (later revised under the name of Constellations, At Night). In 2021, Mr Bloquert was the youngest finalist of the Basel International Composition Competition. This competition saw him receive a premiere of his piece Le Temps Qui Se Perd Dans Ses Yeux by the Basel Sinfonieorchester in Basel, Switzerland. In 2021 also, Bloquert won the Juilliard Orchestra Composition Competition which saw the premiere of Constellations at Night by the Juilliard Orchestra. In 2022, Mr Bloquert received the Israel/Pellman Prize from the Society for New Music for his second ballet, Serenade: Recomposed. In 2023, he was named a finalist of the Luciano Berio Composition Competition for his piece The Mechanics of Matter (chamber version) and he received a BMI Composers Award for his piece Métropole, for orchestra. Most recently, Bloquert received a was named as the second recipient of the Pisar Prize.

In addition, Bloquert has had commissions and been performed by some of the world’s most cutting edge groups and ensemble. In 2020 he received a commission from the Ensemble InterContemporain and the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris for the Après Demain Festival. In 2022, he received a commission from the New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute for a new contemporary ballet. Also in 2022 he was selected as a Blueprint Fellow in partnership with National Sawdust which saw a collaboration on the creation of a new multi disciplinary work. In 2023 he received a commission from his own BeComEnsemble for a chamber song cycle. Furthermore, Mr. Bloquert has written numerous pieces for colleagues and continues to provide arrangements and orchestrations for various groups and orchestras. Looking forward, Mr Bloquert has a commission for an evening length, hour long ballet, from the New York based choreographer Miro Magloire and his company the New Chamber Ballet to be premiered in Spring 2024. He also has a commissions his own BeComEnsemble be premiered in later seasons.

Other groups that have played Bloquert's music include the MIVOS Quartet, the JACK Quartet, Irvin Arditti, the PHACE Ensemble (Vienna), the Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre of Brasília, the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, the Society for New Music and the National Sawdust Ensemble amongst others.

As a conductor, Mr Bloquert demarcated himself early in his studies. He took over the position of Music Director of the Berklee Musical Theatre Orchestra overseeing its performances from 2018 to 2019. In 2018 he was the first elected Music Director of the Berklee Motion Picture Orchestra. During his tenure, he grew the size of the orchestra, expanded the programming, the number of performances and overall quality of the sound. From 2018 to 2019 he served as Assistant Conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and in 2018 he was the Music Director and Producer of French Film Music Live, a concert paying homage to French film music composer. In addition Bloquert led orchestras in recitals including a memorable performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the Boston Conservatory in November 2019. Before graduating from Berklee College of Music he had received the Tibor Pusztai Prize for Outstanding Conducting Achievement.

Very much in demand in contemporary settings, Bloquert has premiered numerous works by fellow composers and is known as a champion of new music. To that effect, he co-founded the New York City based BeComEnsemble, a group focused on providing a platform for early career composers and performers.

Bloquert is also a lauded Music Educator serving students primarily in the New York area. In this role he has also lent his expertise to the creation of early music education books.

Bloquert began his studies in Mathematics at the University of Queensland in Australia. He eventually turned to music and transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied with Dr. Richard Carrick and Dr. Andrew List. He received his Bachelors of Music with a double major in Composition and Film Scoring, with an additional minor in Conducting. He later studied at the Juilliard School with Matthias Pintscher graduating with a Masters of Music. In addition, Mr. Bloquert has received lessons and mentorship from Amy Beth Kirsten and Paola Prestini.